A Unity-based Simulator for Tsunami Evacuation with DEVS Agent Model and Cellular Automata

Tsunami is a frightful natural disaster that causes severe damages worldwide. To minimize the damage, South Korea has built a tsunami warning system and designated evacuation sites in the east and south coasts. However, such countermeasures have not been verified whether they are adequate to minimize casualties since tsunami rarely occurs in South Korea. Recently, due to increasing earthquakes in the west coast of Japan, the likelihood of South Korea entering the damage area of tsunami rises; thus, in this paper, we develops a simulator based on Unity game engine to simulate the evacuation from tsunami. In order to increase the fidelity of the simulation results, the simulator applies a tsunami simulation model that analyzes coastal inundation based on cellular automata. In addition, the objects included in tsunami evacuation, such as humans, are modeled as an agent model that determines the situation and acts itself, based on the discrete-event system specification (DEVS), a mathematical formalism for describing a discrete event system. The tsunami simulation model and agent models are integrated and visualized in the simulator using Unity game engine. As an example of the use of this simulator, we verify the existing tsunami evacuation site in Gwangalli Beach in Busan and suggest the optimal alternative site minimizing casualties.